Baby crib with oscillating mechanism

ABSTRACT

A baby crib assembly and crib reciprocating device are described. The crib includes a crib frame having parallel side panels, a headboard and a footboard. A mattress support is attached to the frame for oscillation between the headboard and the footboard. The reciprocating devices including an electric motor with a drive shaft parallel to the ends of the mattress support, a connector having an outer end attached to one end of the mattress support and an inner end attached through a reciprocating linkage to the drive shaft, whereby a reciprocating motion is imparted to the connector and the mattress support upon rotation of the drive shaft. The drive means is releasibly attached to the crib without modifying the crib by clamping plates positionable against the exterior and interior surfaces one of the side panels.

This application claims the benefit of the filing date of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/661,820, entitled Baby Crib With Oscillating Mechanism, filed Mar. 15, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a baby crib that includes an electrically powered device for oscillating the crib mattress support in a reciprocating back and forth motion to calm the baby and promote sleeping, and in particular to a mattress support oscillating device that is easily attachable to a conventional crib.

(2) Description of the Prior Art

It is well known that gentle rocking of a young child induces sleep, either at the time the child is initially falling asleep or when the child awakens during the night. Often, the infant is placed in a cradle or crib that is rocked to impart the motion to the child until the child is again asleep.

The child must often be rocked for a considerable time before the child falls asleep. Also, the need to rock the child can deprive the parents of their own sleep when the child awakens during the night. To alleviate these inconveniences, many prior art mechanisms have been devised to mechanically rock the cradle, crib or child's bed, the term “crib” being used herein to describe all of these kinds of sleeping furniture.

Generally, crib oscillating devices are comprised of an electric motor that is operatively connected to a mechanism for moving the crib or a part of the crib back and forth along a pathway, e.g., a vertical, horizontal or curved pathway, upon activation of the motor. Motors on prior art devices are generally activated by a switch, but can also be activated upon the occurrence of an event, such as the sound of the child crying. The devices may also include a timer to control the length of time that the motor is activated.

Prior art cribs may be designed with the oscillating device as a part of the crib, with the other components of the crib being configured to accommodate the oscillating device. If the crib oscillating device is sold as an after-market item to be installed on an existing crib, prior art devices have required significant modifications to the crib, often beyond the capabilities of many parents, in order to operatively attach the oscillating device to the crib.

Therefore, there is still a need for an electrically powered mechanism for reciprocating a child's crib that can be quickly and easily attached to the crib without the need to modify the crib. There is also a need for a crib including an oscillating mechanism that is attachable and detachable without drilling holes in or otherwise modifying the crib.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a mechanized baby bed or crib with a moveable mattress support, e.g., crib springs, and a motorized device to reciprocate the support along a pathway between the head and foot of the crib, thereby providing a soothing rocking motion to a baby resting on the mattress. This motion serves to induce the baby to go to sleep initially, or to return to sleep if the baby awakens during the night.

Generally, the crib assembly is comprised of a crib frame, a mattress support, a mattress, and the reciprocating device. The crib frame can be of any desired design, and is of a conventional construction, including a head board, a foot board, and opposed side panels extending between the headboard and footboard. One of the side panels is stationary, while the other panel is vertically adjustable to facilitate access to the baby and the crib interior. The side panels are constructed of a plurality of vertical spaced bars extending between upper and lower horizontal members to prevent the baby from falling from the crib without obstructing the view in or out of the crib. The crib may be constructed of various conventional materials such as wood, plastic, metal, or combinations thereof.

The mattress support is comprised of a rectangular platform with parallel upper and lower ends and rails joining the upper and lower ends. The platform may be a solid platform, but more preferably is a flexible surface to increase the comfort of the crib. For example, as shown in the preferred embodiment, the platform may be a rectangular spring platform mounted within a peripheral frame.

The mattress support is secured adjacent to its upper and lower ends to the crib frame headboard and footboard, respectively, in a manner that permits reciprocating movement of the support along a pathway between the headboard and footboard. For instance, the support may be connected by chains or other flexible attachment members at each end, with the chains having upper ends attachable to the crib headboard and footboard, and a lower ends attachable to the corners of the mattress support.

The oscillating device used to reciprocate the mattress platform is designed so that it can be attached to the crib's stationary side panel, eliminating the need for modification of the crib or drilling of holes into the crib frame. The device is comprised of an electric motor mounted so that the motor's drive shaft extends transverse to the longitudinal axis of the mattress support. An eccentric cam is attached to the outer end of the shaft, and a telescoping connecting rod has an inner end rotatably attached to the cam and an outer end attached to the upper or lower end of the mattress support. The motor can be energized manually, in response to the child's crying, or with a timer.

In order to secure the oscillating assembly to the crib without modification of the crib, the assembly also includes a releasable clamp with an outer mounting plate positionable on the exterior of the crib side panels, and a motor mounting plate that is positionable on the interior of the crib panels and mateable with the outer mounting plate. The two mounting plates may be releasibly held together by bolts extending through the two mounting plates. The motor mounting plate may be attached directly to the motor, but preferably is attached to a housing that encloses the motor. The motor mounting plate may form the back wall of the motor housing.

The assembly is attached to the stationary side panel of the crib by positioning the outer mounting plate sized to span at least two adjacent side panel vertical bars across the exterior of two bars, and the motor mounting plate opposite the outer mounting plate on the interior of the two bars. An attachment means, e.g., bolts, can then be inserted through the spaces between the bars to connect the two plates.

When attached, the motor housing is positioned against the inner side of two adjacent vertical bars so that the motor shaft projects inwardly parallel to one end of the spring frame. The connecting rod is telescoped to a length such that the outer end of the rod can be attached with a clip at the outer end of the rod to an end of the spring with the rod parallel to the crib longitudinal axis.

When the motor is energized, the shaft and cam rotate, causing the connecting rod to move back and forth in a reciprocating manner. As a result, the mattress support attached to the outer end of the connector rod is moved back and forth, with this reciprocal motion continuing as long as the motor is energized. It will be understood that other mechanical linkages can be used to connect the motor shaft to the mattress support and impart a reciprocating motion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view of the crib assembly with the near crib rail removed for clarity of illustration.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the crib assembly.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the oscillating device attached to two bars.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, terms such as horizontal, upright, vertical, above, below, beneath, and the like, are used solely for the purpose of clarity in illustrating the invention, and should not be taken as words of limitation. The drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the invention and are not intended to be to scale.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of the crib assembly, generally 10, is comprised of a crib frame having a headboard 12, and footboard 14, a stationary side rail 16 and a vertically adjustable side rail 18 (omitted from FIG. 1 for clarity); a mattress support, generally 20; a mattress 22; and a motorized support oscillating device 24. Side rails 16 and 18 include a plurality of vertical, spaced bars 26. Mattress support 20 is comprised of a rectangular spring section 28 attached to a peripheral outer frame 30. Mattress support 20 is attached to headboard 12 and footboard 14 with chains 32.

Oscillating device 24, illustrated in detail in FIG. 3, is comprised of electric motor 40 having a drive shaft 42 mountable transverse to the longitudinal axis of mattress support 20, an eccentric cam 44 mounted on, and rotatable with, shaft 42, and a telescoping connecting rod 46 having an inner end rotatably attached to cam 44 and an outer end attached to the upper or lower end of spring frame 30 with attachment clip 48.

Motor 40 is enclosed by housing 50 which includes motor mounting plate 52. A mating outer mounting plate 56 is secured opposite plate 52 with bolts 58 that extend between bars 26, clamping oscillating device 24 to the inner surface of a pair of spaced vertical crib bars 26. Connecting rod 46 is extended to connect clip 48 to one end of frame 30.

Upon actuation of motor 40, cam 44 rotates, alternately pulling and pushing connecting rod 46, and thereby causing a back and forth movement of mattress support 20 and mattress 22. As a result, a baby resting on mattress 22 will be gently rocked back and forth, inducing sleep.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. It should be understood that all such modifications and improvements are properly within the scope of the invention. 

1. A baby crib assembly comprising: a) a crib frame having parallel side panels, a headboard and a footboard; b) a mattress support attached to said frame for oscillating movement along a pathway between said headboard and said footboard, said support having upper and lower ends; and c) drive means clamped to said crib and attached to said support for oscillating said support.
 2. The crib of claim 1, wherein said support upper end is attached to said headboard and said support lower end is attached to said footboard.
 3. The crib of claim 1, wherein said drive means is clamped to one of said side panels.
 4. The crib of claim 1, wherein said drive means includes an electric motor with a rotatable drive shaft, an elongated connector having an outer end attached to said mattress support and an inner end, and a reciprocating linkage joining said connector to said shaft to impart a reciprocating motion to said connector upon rotation of said drive shaft.
 5. The crib of claim 1, wherein at least one of said crib side panels includes a plurality of spaced vertical bars, said drive means is clamped onto two adjacent bars.
 6. The crib of claim 1, wherein said assembly further includes a mattress supported on said mattress support.
 7. The crib of claim 1, wherein said mattress support includes a rectangular spring platform mounted within an outer frame.
 8. A drive assembly for oscillating a mattress support having upper and lower ends along a pathway between the headboard and footboard of a baby crib having side panels with interior and exterior surfaces comprising: a) an electric motor having a drive shaft parallel to the ends of said mattress support; b) a clamp including an outer mounting plate positionable against the exterior surface one of said side panels and a motor mounting plate positionable against the interior surface of the side panel opposite said outer mounting plate, said plates being releasibly attachable to each other; c) a connector having an outer end attached to one end of said mattress support and an inner end; and d) a reciprocating linkage joining the inner end of said connector to said drive shaft to impart a reciprocating motion to said connector upon rotation of said drive shaft.
 9. The drive assembly of claim 8, wherein said connector is a telescoping rod.
 10. The drive assembly of claim 8, wherein said connector includes a clip at its outer end for attachment of said connector to said mattress support.
 11. The drive assembly of claim 8, wherein said reciprocating linkage is an eccentric cam rotatable with said drive shaft.
 12. The drive assembly of claim 8, wherein at least one of said crib side panels includes spaced vertical bars, said mounting plates being sized to span two adjacent bars.
 13. The drive assembly of claim 8, wherein at least one of said crib side panels includes spaced vertical bars, said mounting plates being joinable by connectors extending between said bars.
 14. The drive assembly of claim 8, wherein said assembly further includes a motor housing, said motor mounting plate being a part of said housing.
 15. A baby crib assembly comprising: a) a crib frame having parallel side panels, a headboard and a footboard; b) a mattress support attached to said frame for oscillating movement along a pathway between said headboard and said footboard, said support having an upper end attached to said headboard and a lower end attached to said footboard; c) drive means including an electric motor having a drive shaft parallel to the ends of said mattress support, a connector having an outer end attached to one end of said mattress support and an inner end, and a reciprocating linkage joining the inner end of said connector to said drive shaft to impart a reciprocating motion to said connector and said mattress support upon rotation of said drive shaft; and d) a mounting clamp including an outer mounting plate positionable against the exterior surface one of said side panels and a motor mounting plate positionable against the interior surface of the side panel opposite said outer mounting plate, said plates being releasibly attachable to each other.
 16. The crib assembly of claim 15, wherein at least one of said crib side panels includes a plurality of spaced vertical bars, said mounting plates being joinable by connectors extending between said bars.
 17. The crib assembly of claim 15, wherein said mattress support includes a rectangular spring platform mounted within an outer frame having parallel sides and upper and lower ends, and said connector includes a clip to attach the outer end of said connector to one end of said frame.
 18. The crib assembly of claim 15, wherein said reciprocating linkage is an eccentric cam mounted on said drive shaft, said connector inner end being rotatably attached to said cam.
 19. The crib assembly of claim 15, wherein said connector is a telescoping rod.
 20. The crib assembly of claim 15, wherein said drive means further includes a housing, said motor mounting plate being a part of said housing. 